'Out of question': Kremlin quells Ukraine's hopes of retaking Crimea by non-military means

Russia took notice of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement on reclaiming Crimea "by non-military means” and then went on to completely disregard it by asserting that the possibility is entirely “out of question.” According to TASS, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Kyiv’s wish to take Crimea is merely a discussion to isolate a territory from Russia.

"For us, this is nothing but a discussion over an alienation of a territory from Russia. There can be no other understanding here. This is out of the question," Peskov said when he was questioned about Zelenskyy’s remarks. "Such speculations indicate once again the unpreparedness, unwillingness and inability of the Ukrainian side to be ready to resolve the problem by non-military methods," he added.

Peskov’s statement comes after Zelenskyy spoke to British outlet Financial Times and expressed that he would “favor” any suggestion that comes his way regarding getting back Crimea through non-military efforts. Following this, the Russian diplomat said that several media outlets "absolutely misrepresented the essence of that statement” by assuming that it displayed the Ukrainian president’s “readiness to deal with this issue not by military means, but by peace talks."

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Attempting to clarify this, Peskov said: "This is an absolutely wrong interpretation. You know that from the very beginning - in fact, the president [of Russia Vladimir Putin] mentioned this more than once, even before the start of the special military operation - Ukraine’s constitution says that Crimea must be retaken by force. De facto Ukraine has not given up on this."

Earlier this month, Volodymyr Havrylov, a retired major general from Ukraine’s forces spoke to Sky News about the issue concerning Crimea. Talking about retaking the region possibly towards the end of the year, Havrylov said: “It's only a matter of time and, of course, we would like to make it sooner than later. We can step in Crimea, for example, by the end of December. Possible, possible. Not excluded that it be so.”